try, has a strong dash of the grotesque; as it has here in his ascription to the Chair of the actual moods and temper of the members, and again on p. 9, 1. 3, 4, where with doubtful compliment he speaks of "a blunter discernment than yours." In a like vein is his disparagement here of his own perfectly natural and worthy feeling as frailty and superstition.' Burke's weighty genius is not always at its best in toying with trifles.

8. the grand penal bill was a measure of Lord North's, cutting off the New England colonies from all trade except with the mother country and her dependencies, and, worst of all, putting a stop to the fisheries, one of their most successful and important industries. See pp. 14-16. The Lords returned the bill with a savage amendment making it apply to all the American Colonies. The amendment was afterwards withdrawn.

PAGE 2, 6, 7. This was at the beginning of 1766. Long before this date, however, Burke had discerned the gravity of the Colonial question, and had with characteristic energy set himself to master it; as is shown by his Account of European Settlements in America, published in 1757.

25, 26. The occasion was a memorable one the repeal of the Stamp Act under Lord Rockingham's Ministry, March 18, 1766. The strength and sharpness of the impression made upon Burke are attested by a striking passage in his speech upon American Taxation, wherein, after sketching the situation within the House on that night, and the bearing of the great leaders there, he goes on to tell how, outside the walls of the chamber, "the whole trading interest of this Empire, crammed into your lobbies, with a trembling and anxious expectation waited, almost to a winter's return of light, their fate from your resolutions ;" and how, when the result was announced, "from the whole of that grave multitude there arose an involuntary burst of gratitude and transport."

PAGE 3, 15-17. This was a Mr. Rose Fuller, now in the Opposition along with Burke. During the previous session it was his proposition to repeal the Tea Tax which furnished the occasion of Burke's famous speech upon American Taxation, referred to in the last note.

PAGE 4, 12-19. Upon the Ministry and its supporters, Burke means to say, rests the responsibility for devising schemes for carrying on government. Schemes proposed by the Opposition are not merely sure to receive no fair consideration from the triumphant majority, but are apt thereby to be discredited in advance, and ruined for future usefulness. The scruple is thoroughly characteristic of Burke, as are also the considerations which induced him to set it aside.

PAGE 6, 9-14. the project has been outlined above in the Introductory Note to this speech. The impossibility of assigning any definite values to the factors which were to determine the proportionate share of each Colony, as well as the cool irony of talking about proportion at all, when the real object was in each case to extort the largest sum possible, strongly roused Burke. His imagination at once pictures the scenes Parliament is likely to witness in attempting to carry out such a scheme, and he sarcastically figures these as the splendors and sensations of a new entertainment provided by the Ministry. The noble lord was Frederick North, Prime Minister from 1770 till 1782, and largely responsible for the separation of the Colonies from England. was at this time lord' only by courtesy of speech. He did not come into his earldom until his father's death in 1790. Sons and younger brothers of peers, though commonly styled lords, are only commoners in fact, and as such are eligible to the lower house, where they often seek a career. A notable example in our own day is Lord Randolph Churchill. The blue ribbon is the badge

He

of the famous Order of the Garter, a decoration rarely conferred upon commoners, and therefore often mentioned by Burke in his parliamentary designation of this Prime Minister to whom he was so long opposed.

Colony agents. In default of any regular channel through which a colony could make its condition and its needs known to Parliament, the practice was to secure the services of some member of Parliament to act as agent for the colony, and to look after its interests in the general legislation. Burke himself was such an agent for New York. A fuller recognition is now accorded the colonies of England, in the addition to the Ministry of a

special Secretary of State for the Colonies. But the Agents-General are still maintained. the interposition of your mace. When the ordinary call for order is ineffective to quell disturbance in the House, the Sergeant-at-Arms, at the Speaker's direction, takes up the mace from the table where it lies, and with it confronts the disorderly members. Before this symbol of the majesty of the House, they are expected to quail and sink into their seats. There is in the Speaker's power but one last resource more dreaded than this, and that is to "name" the disorderly member. 25, 26. For the Address see Note on the English Constitution, page 322. Its menacing front in this case was the declaration of a state of rebellion in Massachusetts, and a call for immediate action to suppress it. One of the heavy bills of pains and penalities was that referred to in the opening sentences of this speech as "the grand penal bill." See note, p. 1, 1. 8.

PAGE 9, 5-12. An occasional system here means a policy which lacks the guidance of far-reaching principles, and so contents itself with makeshifts to meet new occasions or emergencies as they arise. a policy of shifts. The object referred to in l. 6 and 12, and repeatedly throughout this discussion, is the Colonies themselves.

22.

That is, the subject of their commerce has been treated,' etc. The gentleman was a Mr. Glover, who presented a petition from the West India planters praying that peace might be made with the American Colonies. His literary reputation, complimented here, is now quite forgotten. The bar is a movable barrier or rail in the main aisle, beyond which none but officers and members are allowed to pass. All other persons, if permitted to address the House, must do so standing outside this barrier. PAGE 10, 9. state, where we should say statement. also p. 56, 1. 4.

See

21-23. The exports from England to Africa consisted almost wholly of articles used in barter for slaves, who were shipped thence to the Colonies. The exchange on the coast of Africa was but an incident in a larger transaction beginning in England and ending in America. The amount of these exports is, therefore,

rightly added by Burke to the total of direct exports to the Colonies.

PAGE 12, 10 ff. To secure a more vivid sense of the unexampled vigor and growth of the Colonies than mere statistics could give, Burke pauses here to turn upon the subject the gorgeous illumination of this paragraph. The attempt is a daring one, and is carried out with characteristic opulence and splendor. The good taste of portions of it has been questioned; particularly the academic and conventional fulsomeness of lines 24-35; but that would hardly have counted as a fault in a century which adored such rigmarole.plays

22, 23.

6

Already old enough to read the deeds of his fathers, and able to know what virtue is; ' — adapted from Virgil, Ecl. iv. 26.

27-35. the fourth generation, since George III., was, not the son, but the grandson of George II. made Great Britain by the union with Scotland in 1707. The higher rank of peerage was that of Earl, to which Lord Bathurst had been advanced from that of Baron, the lowest hereditary degree. The new title added to the honors of the family was that of Baron Apsley, conferred upon Lord Bathurst's son when the latter became Lord Chancellor. PAGE 14, 10. deceive, i.e., beguile, lighten, an echo of Latin usage in the case of the parallel word, fallere.

27-29. Alluding to the famous story of a Roman father condemned to die of starvation, but secretly nourished by his daughter from her own breasts, until the discovery of her devotion and the admiration it aroused brought about his release.

PAGE 15, 11. Antartic circle.

The Serpent, a constellation within the

17. run the longitude. This expression seems not to be current with nautical men; although they naturally interpret it as spoken of a course sailed due east or west, so that the ship's progress is reckoned in longitude alone. On the other hand, the context seems to call for a course due south, or nearly so- - following a great circle of longitude, or meridian. It may be that Burke has used the phrase here strictly, as the sailors understand it; meaning that some of the American whalers, after their

African cruise, sailed westward to Brazil, as perhaps they might do on their homeward cruise. Or it may be that without strict question of nautical interpretation he used the sonorous phrase in the other sense, which seemed obvious enough to him.

PAGE 16, 10. complexion, in its original signification of temperament, the way in which a person is put together; and so generally in Burke. Passages like that which follows here (pp. 16, 17) justify Matthew Arnold's high praise of Burke, "because almost alone in England he brings thought to bear upon politics; he saturates politics with thought."

PAGE 18, 9, 10. During the great struggle against the tyranny of the Stuarts.

21-24. Notably in Rome, an example always present to Burke's mind. PAYNE.

PAGE 19, 27-29. popular, democratic, of the people and by the people.' wholly so. the popular

representative

merely popular,

the portion which represents the people. Cf. Burke's more explicit statement, p. 52, 1. 34 ff.

31. aversion is now followed by to, after the manner of its synonyms, dislike, repugnance, etc. But in Burke's time the force of a Latin etymology or of Latin usage was still strongly felt, and often determined both idiom and meaning of English words. Hence the from in this case. The young student, whose sense for idiom and usage needs to grow more sure and more intelligent, should not fail to notice these cases as they arise. Even though unacquainted with Latin, he should lose no time in acquiring the habit of consulting directly the Latin Lexicon. With a little resolution and a little help at first, the difficulties will speedily vanish; while the gain in conscious power and in grasp of language is invaluable. For examples at hand try piety, p. 14, l. 27, communion, p. 20, 1. 27, and constitution, p. 22, 1. 21.

PAGE 21, 29-31. This high and jealous spirit of the free-born in Rome in the midst of a servile class may be illustrated from almost any page of Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar. Our Teutonic and Scandinavian ancestry was habitually, though incorrectly, called Gothic by writers of the last century. such were the Poles, for at this time they had ceased to be an independent nation.